Berat

Alrica and I did an overnight trip to Berat. Alrica will share more about the transportation to and from the city. I will discuss some of the wonders we experienced in Berat.

Berat is an Albanian city on River Osum. (The Albanian name is Osumit.) The river has carved out a lovely flat valley and much of the modern city is there. But one prominent feature is the high cliffs on the right bank of the river. Because here, at the top, is Berat Castle. And coming down its sides is the magnificent Old Town. So magnificent it is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Castle at Top Left, Old Town coming down the mountain

Old Town is a fabulous maze of staircases and stone walkways. You can call them streets if you like, but you won't want to bring anything with wheels here. There are houses and businesses at various levels, so the roof of one house could be below the door of its neighbor above.

Step through the door and down you go

We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast in Old Town. It was challenging to find it that first time. Actually the second time too. But we did find it. It has a rooftop deck, where we had our breakfast, which looked out on the Medieval Center, part of the city in the flat valley. I will talk about the Medieval Center later.

Some streets are wide enough to walk two or three abreast. Some are narrow forcing you to walk single file. And some are almost entirely stairs. We ate at a restaurant on multiple levels. The waiters must be so fit, because they constantly have to run up and down stairs.

All the doors on the right at each level lead to the same restaurant

At a site called the Bachelors Mosque, which doesn't seem to be in present use, we found a gnome door. At least I can only assume it is for gnomes or other sufficiently small creatures who have a need for doors.

Who else is using a door that small?

From Old Town we walked up and up and up and up to reach Berat Castle. Let me be explicit. It was a lot of going up. The Castle has a long history. It was first built in the Fourth Century BCE by the Illyrian Parthini people. But that castle was burned down by the Romans somewhere around 200 BCE. Oh Romans, why do you have to burn down cool stuff?

We still some up to go

Not to fear. The Romans, realizing the strategic potential of a castle at this location, rebuilt it, though about 700 years after they had burned the first one. That was the fifth century CE, and then in the sixth century, the emporer Justinian I of Rome built it up further. Fast forward another 700 years and Michael I Komnenos Doukas of the Byzantine Empire added more. (Yes, the Byzantines now controlled the area. Bye Rome!)

Almost there, unless we want to go further up to reach that arch

Within it, churches and homes were built. Many of those homes exist still and people live within the castle. There are hotels there, restaurants, and shops. Many of the churches are empty now, in some state of decay, but some of them still hold services.

The Red Church is still functioning today

There was also one mosque built inside the castle. You might think, why were the Byzantines building mosques? Good question. They weren't. This was in the period in which the Ottoman Empire ruled the area. However, that mosque, called the White Mosque, is mostly destroyed. There are still a few walls and a piece of the base of the minaret still standing.

The base of the minaret of the White Mosque

Visiting Berat Castle you can still see several of the churches, the remnants of the White Mosque, an entrance to the cisterns, and places you can climb the gallery wall and look out over the lower city.

The Cistern, one wrong step and you tumble down into that water

When we left the castle, we went down and down and down (because you have to undo all that going up) and we reached a part of town called The Medieval Center. This part of town was built up during the Ottoman reign over the area. There are several large mosques and one large Byzantine Cathedral. In fact, the Lead Mosque (so named because it has lead in its dome) and the St. Demetrius Cathedral are across a central square from one another. We visited both. Note: If you want to visit the Lead Mosque, they are very welcoming. But everyone must have covered legs (no shorts) and women need a head covering. Alrica has a beautiful scarf which was a gift from our daughter that she used when we went in.

The Lead Mosque

Saint Demetrius Cathedral

We also had traditional Albanian food while in Berat. Alrica tried something totally new: pispili. Pispili is sort of half-sandwich and half-panini. But the bread is made with cornmeal rather than wheat flour. It has spinach, eggs, and feta cheese inside.

Pispili

I was going to try a new kind of tavë than I had tried before. But they were out. And that was lucky, because instead I decided to have fërgesë. I had enjoyed fërgesë in Tirana. But wow, this fërgesë was fantastic. I don't know how they seasoned it, but it was scrumptious. Here's how scrumptious. The main ingredient of fërgesë is bell peppers (or capsicums if you are an non-American English speaker.) Alrica is not particularly fond of bell peppers. But after she had a taste of my fërgesë, she was even angling to get me to trade dishes with her. (I declined the invitation. The fërgesë was too good to surrender.)

Old Town View from the Medieval Center

It was a whirlwind trip, there and back again in a day. But we were delighted. It was a feast for our eyes, a party for our tongues, and a workout for our calves. Totally worth the workout.